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Constitution and By-Laws 



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IN THE 



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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 



ADOPTED MAY 13TH, 1902 



Constitution. 



Article I. 
Name. 
The name of this Society shall be the " Society op 
Colonial Wars in the District of Columbia." 

This Societj' recognizes the authority of the General 
Society of Colonial Wars and will obey all its proper 
regulations which a:e applicable to this Society. 

Article II. 
Objects. 
The objects of this Society are to aid in preparing 
and publishing a correct history of the American Colo- 
nies now included in the territor)' belonging to the 
United States, from the Settlement of Jamestown, Va., 
May 13, 1607, to the Battle of lyexington, April 19, 
1775 ; to commemorate the important events of that 
period ; to perpetuate the memory of the men who in 
military, naval and civil positions of trust and responsi- 
bility, by their acts and counsel, assisted in the estab- 
lishment, defence and preservation of the said American 
colonies ; and to promote a spirit of loyalty and patri- 
otic devotion to the nation which they founded. 

Article III. 

Membership. 

TERMS op eligibility. 

Section i. — Any male person shall be eligible to 
membership who is above the age of twenty-one 
years, of moral character and good reputation, and 
who is lineally descended from an ancestor : 

(i) Who served as a military, naval or marine officer, 
or as a soldier, sailor or marine, or as a privateersman , 



4 

under authority of the Colonies which afterward 
formed the United States, or in the forces of Great 
Britain which participated with those of the said 
Colonies in any wars in which the said Colonies were 
engaged, or in which they enrolled men, during said 
colonial period. 

(2) Who held office in any of the Colonies between 
the dates above mentioned, either as 

"(a) President, Governor, lyieutenant-Governor, 
Member of the King's Council, County Lieutenant, 
or Member of the House of Burgesses in the Colony of 
Virginia. 

" (<5) Governor-General, Governor, Lieutenant or 
Acting Governor, President, Assistant, Member of the 
Governor's Council, Deputy or Representative in the 
General Court, in the Colonies of Plymouth, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut, New Haven, Maine, Providence 
Plantation or Rhode Island, or New Hampshire ; as 
President of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, 
or as one of the Commissioners of the United Colonies 
of New England. 

" (c) Director-General, Vice-Director- General, Gov- 
ernor or Deputy Governor, Member of the Council or 
of the Landtag of the Colony of New Netherlands, or 
of the Dutch Colony on the Delaware. 

" (df) Palatine, Lord Proprietor, Governor, Deputy- 
Governor, Lieutenant Governor or President, Member 
of the Council, Member of the Lower House or of the 
Assembly of the Colonies of Maryland or of the 
Carolinas. 

" ((?) Governor, Lieutenant or Acting Governor, 
Member of the Council or of the Colonial Assembly in 
the Colony of New York. 

" (/) Lord Proprietor, Governor, Deputy-Governor, 
Member of the King's Council, Deputy to the Provin- 
cial Assembly, in the Provinces of Kast Jersey, West 
Jersey, or New Jersey. 



"(^) L/Ord Proprietor, Governor, Deputy or Lieu- 
entant- Governor, Member of the Provincial Council or 
Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, or Member 
of the Assembly of the Territories of Delaware. 

" (/z) Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, President, 
Vice President, Member of the Council or of the Pro- 
vincial Assembly of the Colony of Georgia. 

" (z) Governor-General, Captain-General or Lord 
Lieutenant of the British Colonies in North America 
now included in the territory belonging to the United 
States." 

Fees mid Dues. 

Sec. 2. — The admission fee shall be ten dollars. 
The annual dues shall be five dollars for each calendar 
year, payable in advance. Members admitted during 
the first half of any calendar year shall pay the full 
amount of the annual dues ; those admitted during the 
second half of any calendar year shall pay one-half the 
annual dues. 

Upon payment at one time of one hundred dollars, 
any member in good standing and not indebted to the 
Society, may be elected to life membership and there- 
after be exempt from the payment of all regular dues. 

Admissions. 

Sec. 3. — Applications for membership shall be made 
in writing on duplicate forms prescribed and furnished 
by the Society, and shall give the name, place 
and date of birth, occupation and residence of the 
applicant, his line of descent, and the name, residence 
and service of the ancestor from whom he derives eligi- 
bility, with proof of such service. The applicant shall 
make oath that the statements of his application are 
correct and true ; that he will use his best efforts to pro- 
mote the objects of the Society and will conform to all 
its regulations, and, if a citizen of the United States, 



that he will support the Constitution of the United 
States, and he shall state under oath whether he has 
ever made application for admission to any other 
Society of the Colonial Wars. 

No person who has applied for admission to any other 
Society of Colonial Wars and has not been accepted 
shall be admitted to membership in this Society, except 
upon approval by the Society to which his application 
was first made. 

Each application shall be endorsed by two members 
of this Society who shall certify that they know the 
applicant to be worthy of membership, and it shall be 
accompanied by the initiation fee. 

Applications shall be filed with the Secretary and be 
referred by that ofl&cer to the Committee on Member- 
ship. If approved by that Committee it shall be for- 
warded to the Registrar, and, when verified by him, it 
shall be returned to the Secretary to be laid before the 
Societ3^ A two- thirds vote by ballot of all members 
present at a meeting of the Society shall be required to 
elect an applicant to membership. If any applicant 
fails of election the initation fee shall be immediately 
returned to him and the papers shall be retained by the 
Society and placed in the files of the Registrar's 
ofiice. One copy of every application for membership, 
after having been accepted by the Society, shall be 
sent by the Registrar to the Registrar General. 

Resignations. 

Sec. 4. The resignation of any member presented in 
writing may be accepted by a two-thirds vote at any 
meeting of the Society, provided such member is in 
good standing. 

Stispension and Expulsion. 
Sec. 5. Any member for conduct inconsistent with 
the character of a gentleman and a man of honor, or 
with his obligations to the Society, or for other grave 



cause, may be suspended or expelled from the Society, 
but no member shall be suspended or expelled unless 
written charges against him be presented to the Council. 
It shall be the duty of the Governor to file, with the 
Council, charges against any member of this Society if 
it becomes known to him that such member has 
violated any of the rules of the Society which might 
render him subject to investigation therefor. The 
Council shall give reasonable notice of such charges 
and afford the member opportunity to answer and re- 
fute them. The Council after due investigation may 
recommend to the Society the suspension or expulsion 
of the member and the Society shall have authority to 
suspend or expel him by a majority vote of the 
members present at any meeting of the Society. (Any 
member who shall be suspended shall immediately re- 
turn his diploma, certificate of membership and insignia, 
to the Registrar to be held during such suspension.) 

The Society shall have power to drop from the rolls 
the name of any member two years or more in arrears 
for dues who shall fail, after proper notice, to pay the 
same within sixty days, and on being dropped his 
membership shall cease, but he may be restored to 
membership by two-thirds vote of the Society, at any 
time upon his written application, approved by the 
Committee on Membership, and the payment of all 
sums that would have been charged against him had he 
not been dropped from the rolls. Any person expelled 
from the Society or dropped from the rolls shall forfeit 
all right to a diploma, certificate and insignia and shall 
immediately return them to the Society. The Treas- 
urer shall refund to him the amount paid for his 
insignia. 

Tra7isfers. 

Sec. 6. No member of this Society shall be trans- 
ferred to any other State Society, and no member of any 
other State Society shall be received by transfer to this 



8 

Society, who is not in good standing and whose dues 
are not paid up to the date of such transfer. 

A member of any other State Society desiring to be 
transferred to this Society shall file, with the Secretary, 
a written application accompanied with a certified copy 
of the original application on which he was admitted 
to the Society, and a certificate that he is in good 
standing and that his dues are fully paid. Such appli- 
cation shall be passed upon by the Membership Com- 
mittee and Registrar before the applicant is admitted. 

A member of this Society desiring to be transferred 
to any other Society may be required by the Registrar, 
to pay the cost of making the requisite copy of his 
application. 

Article IV. 
Meetings. 

The regular annual meeting of the Society shall be 
held on the first Tuesday in December, of each year. 
Special meetings may be called by the Governor when- 
ever he deems it necessary, and it shall be his duty to 
call such meetings upon the written request of five 
members of the Society. Nine members shall consti- 
tute a quorum of the Society at all its meetings. 

Meetings of the Council shall be held whenever 
directed by the Society or the Chairman deems it nec- 
essary and it shall be the duty of the Chairman to call 
a meeting upon the written request of three members of 
the Council. Five members shall constitute a quorum 
at all meetings of the Council. 

Not less than five days' notice of all regular meetings 
of the Society and Council shall be given. 

No other meetings of the Society or the Council shall 
be held without reasonable notice to all members of 
the respective bodies. 



ArticIvE v. 

Officers. 

Section, i. The ofl&cers of this Society shall be a 
Governor, Deputy-Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, 
Secretary, Treasurer, Registrar, Historian, Chaplain, 
Chancellor, and Surgeon, who shall hold office for one 
year, commencing upon the adjournment of the 
annual meeting at which they are elected, or until 
their successors are duly elected, and qualified. These 
officers shall be, ex officio, members of the Council, and 
the Governor shall be Chairman thereof. 

The Council. 

Sec. 2. There shall be a Council consisting of the 
officers named in Article V, Section i, and nine addi- 
tional members to be called " Gentlemen of the Coun- 
cil." Three Gentlemen of the Council shall be elected 
at each annual meeting and their term of office shall 
be three years. 

Under the authority and by the direction of the 
Society the Council shall have general care of the 
interests and affairs of the Society and shall attend to 
such matters as may be committed to it. 

Delegates to the General Assembly. 

Sec. 3. Five delegates to the meetings of the General 
Society shall be nominated and elected annually at the 
same time, in the same manner and for the same term 
as the general officers of this Society. 

Nomination of Officers. 

Sec. 4. A Nominating Committee, to be chosen by 
the Council at a regularly-appointed meeting, not less 
than thirty days before the date of the annual meeting, 
shall nominate candidates for the offices provided for 
by this Constitution and, within ten days after its 



10 

appointment, shall report the names of such nominees 
to the Secretary, who shall, not less than five days 
before the date of the annual meeting, communicate 
the names of the candidates to all members of the 
Society. All members of the Society shall have the 
right to make other nominations for any ofiice in open 
meeting. 

No member who is in arrears for more than one 
year's dues shall be nominated or elected to any office 
in this Society. 

Election of Officers. 

Sec. 5. The officers provided for by this Constitution 
shall be elected, by ballot, by a majority vote at the 
regular annual meeting of the Society. 

Article VI. 

The Governor. 

The Governor shall have general supervision of the 
affairs of the Society, under its direction, and shall 
preside at all meetings. He shall be, ex officio, Chair- 
man of the Council. In the absence or disability of the 
Governor, the Deputy Governor or the I^ieutenant 
Governor, in the order named, shall perform the duties 
of the office. 

Article VII. 

The Secretary. 

The Secretary shall keep accurate records of the pro- 
ceedings of all meetings of the Society and of the 
Council, separately, issue notices, conduct the corre- 
spondence and attend to such other duties as may be 
assigned to him. He shall be the custodian of the seal, 
and of all records and archives belonging to the Society, 
other than those lodged with the Registrar. He shall 
make written reports at each annual meeting and at 
such other times as may be directed. 



11 

Article VIII. 
The Treasurer. 

The Treasurer shall receive and disburse the funds 
of the Society, keep accurate accounts of the same, and 
report to the Society at the regular annual meeting and 
at such other times as may be directed. The funds of 
the Society shall be deposited in the name of the Society, 
in a bank to be designated by the Council, and dis- 
bursements shall be made only upon authority of the 
Society and upon vouchers approved by the Governor 
and the Secretary, The Treasurer shall report to the 
Council, for action, the names of all members in arrears 
for dues — for two years or more. 

Article IX. 
The Registrar. 

The Registrar shall keep a correct record of the 
members and officers of the Society, showing all admis- 
sions, elections and changes ; he shall be the custodian 
of all the proofs of membership qualifications, and all 
the historical and genealogical books, papers, manu- 
scripts, etc., belonging to the Society, and shall prepare 
copies of such documents as the owners thereof may 
not be willing to deposit with the Society. He shall 
verify all statements of genealogical descent and 
service of ancestors that may be made in applications 
for membership and endorse his conclusions on the 
application. 

He shall attend to matters connected with the issu- 
ance of diplomas, certificates of membership, and 
insignia, and keep full records of the same. 

Article X. 
Historian. 
The Historian shall keep a record of the historical 
and commemorative meetings of the Society and 



12 

prepare for publication such addresses and other docu- 
ments as the Society shall order published. He shall 
submit at each annual meeting a list of the names of 
members who may have died during the year, with 
biographical memoirs. 

Article XI. 

Chancellor. 

The Chancellor shall be a lawyer duly admitted to 
the bar, and it shall be his duty to give legal opinions on 
matters affecting the Society when called upon by the 
Governor. 

Article XII. 

Chaplain. 

The Chaplain shall be a clergyman and it shall be his 
duty to ofl&ciate when called upon by the Governor. 

Article XIII. 

Surgeo7i. 

The Surgeon shall be a physician in good standing, 
and it shall be his duty to give professional advice 
when called upon by the Governor. 

Article XIV. 
Committee on Membership. 

The Committee on Membership shall consist of five 
members to be elected annually by the Society, one 
of whom shall be the Registrar, who shall be the 
Chairman of the Committee. The Committee shall 
examine applications for membership, carefully con- 
sider all questions relating to the eligibility and accept- 
ability of the applicant and endorse its approval or 
disapproval upon the application, and forward it to 
the Registrar. 



13 

Article XV. 

Committee on Historical Documents. 

The Committee on Historical Documents and 
Records shall consist of five members to be elected 
annually. The Committee shall collect such docu- 
ments, records and relics as relate to the American 
Colonial period and especially those pertaining to the 
Colonies of Virginia and Maryland. It shall deliver 
the same into the possession of the Society. It shall 
make search and record the character and place of 
such material, when the originals cannot be obtained. 
It shall make an annual report. 

Article XVI. 
Seal. 

The seal of the Society of the Colonial Wars in the 
District of Columbia shall be 

"Upon a shield azure, a Puritan, habited, grasping 
in his dexter hand a match-lock in pale, stock down- 
wards or, The whole surrounded by an oval ribbon, 
gules, inscribed with the legend, 

* ' Society of Colonial Wars 
in the District of Columbia 
1 607-1 775, or, 
Beneath the shield a cutlass, and stone tomahawk in 
saltire, proper." 

Article XVII. 
Flag. 

The flag shall consist of the red cross of Saint George 
on a white field bearing in the center the seal of the 
Society in the District of Columbia. 



14 

Article XVIII. 
Insignia. 

The insignia shall be a star of nine points, as adopted 
by the General Society. It shall be worn by the 
members on all occasions when they assemble as such 
for any stated purpose or celebration, and may be 
worn on any occasion of ceremony. It shall be worn 
conspicuously on the left breast. Members who are 
or have been General Ofl5cers or Officers of a State 
Society, may wear the insignia with three jewels in 
the crown and suspended from a regulation ribbon 
around the neck. Members who are or have been 
Governors, Deputy-Governors, or lyieutenant Gover- 
nors of State Societies, or Officers of the General 
Society, may in addition to the insignia so suspended, 
wear a ribbon of the Society's colors, three and one 
half inches in width, extending from the right shoulder 
to the left hip, for State officers, worn under, and 
for General officers, worn over the waistcoat. 

The insignia shall never be worn as an article of 
jewelry. No member shall receive more than one 
insignia, except to replace one lost, proof of which 
must be satisfactorily established and the new one paid 
for. 

The undress insignia shall be a rosette of red and 
white silk. This decoration may be worn at all times 
in the left coat lapel. 

Article XIX. 
Certificate of Membership. 
The certificate of membership shall read as follows : 
The Society of Colonial Wars in the District of 

Columbia hereby certifies that of was 

chosen a member of said Society in conformity with the 
Articles of its Constitution on the day of 



15 

in tlie year of Our lyOrd one thousand hundred 

and 

In Witness whereof, We have hereunto signed our 
names and affixed the Great Seal of the Society. 

Governor. 

-Secretary . 

District of Columbia Society No. 

General Society No. 



Registrar. 

Artici^e; XX. 

Diploma. 

The diploma shall be the same as the diploma of the 
General Society of the Colonial Wars. 

Article XXI. 
Amendments. 
Alterations or amendments to this Constitution shall 
not be made unless notice shall have been given in 
writing, signed by the member proposing the same, at 
a previous meeting. The Secretary shall send a copy 
of the proposed amendment to each member of the 
Society and state the meeting at which the same will 
be voted upon. No alteration or amendment shall be 
made unless adopted by a two-thirds vote of the mem- 
bers present at the meeting voting upon the same. 



16 

By-Laws. 



I. 

Order of Business. 
The order of business shall be : 

1. Calling the meeting to order by the Governor. 

2. Prayer by the Chaplain. 

3. Reading of the minutes of last meeting. 

4. Report of the Council. 

5. Election of new members. 

6. Report from the Secretary. 

7. Report from the Treasurer. 

8. Reports from committees and officers. 

9. Unfinished business. 

10. New business. 

1 1 . Election of officers. 

2. 
Cushing's Manual, wherever applicable, shall be the 
rule of procedure in the conduct of the business of the 
Society and Council. 

.3- 
These By-laws may be altered or amended, or 
temporarily suspended at any regular meeting by a two- 
thirds vote of the Society. 



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